A New Day For Comics & LEGO Fandom

Menu

In the new issue of Back Issue magazine (#75, shipping today), editor Michael Eury turns back the clock to the 1980s, to cover the top independent comics of that decade. Shown above are Richard and Wendy Pini, creators of Elfquest (which is spotlighted in this issue). The creative couple stopped by our booth at Comic-Con last month, and autographed a pre-release copy if issue #75, and it now has a happy home at Euryman’s secret comics cave.

There’s also coverage of Cerebus, and a personal fave of mine, Concrete. Don’t miss it!

Adam McGovern, longtime columnist for The Jack Kirby Collector,Â is living the recurring dream of Kirby-styled reincarnation with artist Paolo Leandri, as the team debut their four-issue meta-monster miniseries Nightworld for Image Comics, which just launched August 6. Itâ€™s pop-art visuals and upbeat pulp-lit writing the way the future of comics has been waiting to look since the â€™60s! Visit their hellish home online at www.nightworldcomic.com and no longer abandon hope for fun, clever comics!

We were pleased as punch to discover that our book American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s (written by Bill Schelly, and edited by Keith Dallas), was nominated in the 2014 Harvey Awards for “Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation.” Kudos to Bill for the stellar job he did researching and authoring this landmark look at a notoriously under-explored era of comics history (and to Keith for the wonderful work as editor of the series, and author of the 1980s volume).

To date, we’ve got volumes covering from the 1950s to the 1980s, including our new 1970s volume, which is on the way back from the printer, and should be shipping in just a couple more weeks.

If you are a creative professional in the comics field, you’re eligible to vote in the Harveys, but the voting closes in just a couple of days. So scurry on over to the Harvey Awards online ballot and take a minute to vote:

Remember a few years ago, when we announced we were publishing a book on Vince Colletta, the controversial inker who was so prolific in the Silver and Bronze Ages? A lot of people initially scoffed at the idea of giving Colletta his own book, due largely to his reputation within fandom of… shall we say, not being a fan-favorite? Then, when The Thin Black Line: Vince Colletta was released, it garnered rave reviews for finally documenting the compelling life and career of a pivotal comics artist, about whom little was known publicly.

Well, we’re at it again with our new book Don Heck: A Work of Art, which is officially shipping this week from TwoMorrows (and should be in stores next week). In it, the original artist of Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and key Avengers issues finally gets his due, thanks to author John Coates, who tirelessly researched Heck’s background and career. The crux of the book is two lengthy interviews with Heck (a rarely-seen published one by Richard Howell, and an unpublished one by Will Murray), which have been melded together to make, what we think you’ll find, to be a pretty seamless conversaton with Don, about all aspects of his career dating back to his horror work in the 1940s and ’50s. There’s a wealth of examples of his work (all in full-color), and even a special chapter where we debunk the myth that putting Don as artist on a comic meant the sales would drop (wait’ll you see what the actual sales figures tell us). And Stan Lee even provides the intro.

This full-color hardcover is 192 pages long, for $39.95. Give it a shot; you won’t be sorry. And check out our free preview and order HERE.

Dr. Freddy Wertham, that loveable old scamp who nearly destroyed the comics industry in the 1950s, is featured in the new issue of Alter Ego (#128, shipping today from TwoMorrows). And as a companion piece, we present more of our history of the Comics Code (which came about as a result of the good doctor’s crusade). You can find it HERE!

We just got back from Comic-Con International (and are heading to BrickFair, the huge LEGO convention this weekend near Washington, DC). In case you couldn’t make it to our booths this year, weâ€™re extending our online 50% Off Sale on all Print Editions through Monday, August 4 at Midnight EST.

The only things weâ€™re holding back are new and upcoming releases, which are still available at 15% off everyday. (Subscriptions and digital editions are also excluded from the sale, as are bundles, which are already heavily discounted.)

But this is your last chance to take advantage of these huge savings, in celebration of our 20th Anniversary. So hustle over to www.twomorrows.com and stock up this weekend!

We in the home stretch of a year-long celebration of our 20th Anniversary, which continues next week at Comic-Con International: San Diego! To make it more memorable, weâ€™re offering 50% OFF all Print Editions at our Comic-Con booth #1301 (up front, just inside the doors of Hall B near the Golden & Silver Age Pavilion).

And for those of you who canâ€™t make it out to San Diego, weâ€™re extending the same 50% OFF at our website as well, through August 1! The only things weâ€™re holding back are new and upcoming releases, which are still available at 15% off everyday. (Subscriptions and digital editions are also excluded from the sale, as are bundles, which are already heavily discounted.)

At Comic-Con booth #1301 this year, weâ€™ll be debuting some pre-release items, with advance copies of:

These advance copies will sell out quickly, so make booth #1301 your first stop at Comic-Con! Weâ€™ll also have the latest issues of Alter Ego, Back Issue, Jack Kirby Collector, Draw!, Comic Book Creator, and BrickJournal (our LEGO?magazine).

Whether or not you can make it to Comic-Con this year, you can take part is our big 50% sale; so stock up now, before we come to our senses!

This weekend, we wind down our year-long 20th Anniversary celebration at the first convention TwoMorrows ever attendedâ€”Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC! Organizer Shelton Drum has been a big supporter of our company from Day One, and always puts on one of the most exciting (and most fun) conventions around.

Don’t get me wrong; this is a BIG convention, with plenty of top guests and attendees all three days. But it’s also managed to maintain a lot of the “small con” feel that made conventions so enjoyable in the good old days; heavy comics focus, lots of older creators in attendance in addition to the newer “hot” artists, plenty of back issues to buy, and an all-around “family” atmosphere, where it seems like everybody knows everybody year after year. If the craziness of Comic-Con has you down on conventions, just try Heroes Con once, and I think you’ll make it an annual tradition, like we have for the last 20 years. For all the details on attending, go to www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/.

To celebrate our 20th year, we’ll be offering 50% off virtually EVERYTHING at our booth. We’ll also have the largest contingent of TwoMorrows personnel in attendance of any con in the last decade, though mostly on Saturday only. This includes:

Moi (publisher John Morrow, editor of the Jack Kirby Collector)

Jon B. Cooke (Comic Book Creator editor)

Michael Eury (Back Issue editor)

Roy Thomas (Alter Ego editor)

Eric Nolen-Weathington (Modern Masters editor)

We’ll be coordinating and participating on a slew of panels on Saturday in ROOM 203A, including:

Pity poor Eric Nolen-Weathington, who just had to wade through a mountain of boxes of magazines that all came in together from our printer; sometimes the deadlines just converge that way, and we have to deal with multiple items arriving all at once. But we’re working like crazy to get them mailed to subscribers, and they’ll all be in stores within the next ten days as well.